January 24, 2008 Issue                                       

©2007 The Chestnut Hill Local

Overcame anti-feminine bias
Lafayette Hill psychologist ‘called’ to become priest
by PAULA M. RILEY

Kathy Walter, who was ordained as a priest in the Episcopal Church after leaving the Roman Catholic Church, is seen outside of her church in Lafayette Hill, The Church of St. Jude and The Nativity. (Photo by Paula M. Riley)

Ten years ago, Kathleen Walter read a newspaper article that changed her life.

It told a story of Frank Shea, a middle-aged former physician who had become an Episcopal priest. Walter, 52, had been long struggling with the notion that she was being called to ordination. “I took a deep breath and said, ‘if he did it, I can do it. He has removed all the possible excuses to not heed the call.’”

Her excuses included a husband, three children, a full-time job as a Philadelphia School District school psychologist, concern about the cost of attending the seminary and the fact that she was a lifelong member of the Roman Catholic Church, which does not allow women to become ordained priests. After reading the article, however, Walter began visiting Episcopal churches to see if this church would be right for her.

As part of this exploration, she met with Rev. Mary Laney and regularly attended Wednesday lunch Eucharist at St. Gabriel’s Church (Olney). “It was very, very difficult for me to leave the Roman Catholic Church,” Walter explains. She slowly began to appreciate the parallel liturgical styles between the Episcopal and Roman Catholic churches. Walter witnessed these similarities in the doctrine, beliefs and prayers.

She began to realize that she was feeling very comfortable in the Episcopal Church. She continued to attend services and learn all she could. Walter knew she had found the right church; next she began to pursue what she had always wanted — ordination. She was received (as a member) into the Episcopal Church in the summer of 2000. She then met with Bishop Charles Bennison to discuss her desires. He suggested she wait another year and then come back to meet with him again.

Though difficult for Walter to wait after finally following her calling, she waited the year and received the bishop’s blessing for her to begin her studies. Like the priest highlighted in that article she read, she began to take classes part time: two courses a semester at the Lutheran Seminary in Mt. Airy. (The Episcopal and Lutheran churches are in full community with one another; thus, Walter was able to complete courses at this seminary.)

Her journey continued with many classes, meetings with the diocesan commission on ministry, evaluations of her progress and much prayer; all while maintaining her full-time job and role as wife and mother of three children. She became a Postulant in 2004 and was accepted into Candidacy two years later.

In the fall of 2006, Walter began to study at The General Theological Seminary in New York for a master’s degree in Divinity. Moving towards the final stage of ordination and attending the seminary full-time required Walter to retire from her school district job and live at the seminary.

“I had to take many, many risks. I retired from my job and moved to New York, away from my husband, to attend the seminary. If this didn’t work out and I needed to get my school district job back, I would have lost my status and pay level. It was a very scary time and hard to make the jump.”

Walter recalled that from the beginning, the bishop explained to her that there were no guarantees. Until the day you are ordained, you can be denied and asked to leave the process at any time.

“You trust and hope that God will be with you, and it will all work out.”

Walter’s trust and faith in God began at a young age. She began attending daily Mass as a teenager and continued for most of her life. She always loved the liturgy. Her volunteer ministry started in 1969 as a 13-year-old guitar player in St. Hubert’s folk group. Despite her young age, she was very much involved in liturgy planning. This experience was exhilarating for her.

She earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from La Salle University and attended as the school went co-educational. She was one of only three women in male-dominated classes. “It was at La Salle where I first had to fight for myself.”

She married her high school sweetheart, started having children and became extremely involved in pastoral care at her parish, St. Martin’s in Torresdale. Walter played guitar at Mass, taught Sunday School, participated in liturgy planning and was a Eucharist Minister. Regularly she was on the altar, participating in liturgy in ways that some parishes would not allow.

Walter received her teaching certificate from Chestnut Hill College and taught at St. Timothy’s and BVM Visitation Catholic Schools. As an elementary teacher, she got the children involved in music and liturgy. “I worked behind the scenes with the children, and it was here that my anger developed as I witnessed the church’s discrimination against women when I saw the comforts the priests enjoyed versus what the nuns had.”

When Walter went to Temple for an advanced degree in school psychology, she was pregnant and faced more barriers. They told me, “You’re a woman, married and having babies; we are not sure we can accept you.” She was told she did not belong there and felt that she was constantly watched by several professors. Despite these challenges, she received a master’s degree. While at Temple, Walter became a volunteer chaplain at the Newman Center (Catholic Campus Ministry). She attended lunch time Mass and participated in liturgy planning, music, Bible study and student prayer groups.

One day there were no priests available to perform the Communion Services at the Newman Center. Walter stepped in, led the service and absolutely loved it. While at the Newman Center, Walter lead a workshop on liturgy for seminarians. She recalled her frustration that the seminarians were not as excited as she was about the liturgy. “How I had wished I was in their shoes. It never left my mind how much I wanted to be where they were.”

Six years later, she took classes at St. Charles Seminary in the Church Ministry Program, the same courses taken by men studying to be priests and deacons. She loved these studies. “However, I was told my whole life that women were not called to ordination.” She spoke to many priests, met with spiritual directors and struggled painfully with the conflict of her feeling — called to ordination and her beloved church’s policy not to ordain women. For years she “kept telling God to get the idea of ordination out of my head.”

Last January, Walter was called by the parish to “function” as the Rector of the Church of St. Jude and the Nativity in Lafayette Hill after she was ordained a deacon. (Only ordained priests can be installed as rectors.) Twelve months later, on December 15, Kathleen Walter was ordained a priest of the Episcopal Church. This Saturday she will be officially installed as the Rector of the Church of St. Jude and the Nativity.

Since her appointment, she has cherished her role. Replacing a rector who served for two decades, she believes she is bringing new energy and new life to the liturgy and community of 100 families.

Pastor Kathy, as she is known by her congregation, is not sure if this article will change anyone’s life in the way that the article on Frank Shea changed hers. She is thrilled to be an ordained priest, fulfilling a life-long calling, inspired in part by words written in a newspaper article.